Based in Paris, Esther Shalev-Gerz is internationally recognized for her seminal contributions to the field of art in the public realm and her consistent investigation into the nature of democracy, cultural memory and the politics of public space. For over 20 years her work has focused on interventions and projects in public space, taking the form of collaboration and exchange with the audience. Her installations and photographic work raise questions on group memory and its interaction with personal history and souvenir. In these commemorative monuments, installations, video and photographic works, questions about history are posed, and its relationship with collective memory is explored and investigated.

Catherine M. Soussloff’s research explores the historiography, theory, and philosophy of art and visual culture in the European tradition from the Early Modern period (ca. 1400) to the present. She has authored and edited books and written over fifty essays and articles in art history and in a wide range of related fields, including performance studies, aesthetics, Jewish studies, the history of photography, and visual studies. She has lectured extensively in Canada, Europe, the UK, the USA, and South America. Professor Soussloff has advised and supervised MA and PhD students in Art History, Visual and Cultural Studies, History of Consciousness, Literature, and History. Known for her comparative and historical approaches to the central theoretical concerns of art history and aesthetics, Soussloff’s most recent publications have focused on contemporary art, performance, Picasso’s late work, and the aesthetic theories of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. Her book on Michel Foucault and painting theory in the twentieth century was published by University of Minnesota Press in 2017. Her edited volume Foucault on the Arts and Letters: Perspectives for the 21st Century, published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2016, includes twelve essays by experts in six disciplines and an introduction and essay on Gilles Deleuze’s views of Foucault’s contribution to philosophy written by Soussloff. Soussloff’s lectures on Foucault given at the Collège de France in Paris may be accessed at www.college-de-france.fr. Her views on Foucault are featured in the Slovenian art mockumentary: MY NAME IS JANEZ JANŠA (dir. Janez Jansa).

Ian Hugh Wallace graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Art History degree in 1966 and continued on to receive his Master of Art History degree in 1968. Before he completed his schooling, Wallace was already teaching at the university, a position he held for three years. He later taught Art History at the Vancouver School of Art (which was renamed the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1983), from 1972 to 1998. He taught courses on contemporary art that helped to shape Vancouver’s young artists at the time. Wallace currently lives and works as an artist in Vancouver, focusing primarily on painting and photography. His work has been shown extensively in Canada and abroad.

Shelly Rosenblum is Curator of Academic Programs at the Belkin. Inaugurating this position at the Belkin, Rosenblum’s role is to develop programs that increase myriad forms of civic and academic engagement at UBC, the wider Vancouver community and beyond. Rosenblum received her PhD at Brown University and has taught at Brown, Wesleyan and UBC. Her awards include fellowships from the Center for the Humanities, Wesleyan University and a multi-year Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Department of English, UBC. She was selected for the Summer Leadership Institute of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University (2014). Her research interests include issues in contemporary art and museum theory, discourses of the Black Atlantic, critical theory, narrative and performativity. Her teaching covers the 17th to the 21st centuries. She remains active in professional associations related to academic museums and cultural studies, attending international conferences and workshops, and recently completing two terms (six years) on the Board of Directors at the Western Front, Vancouver, including serving as Board President. At UBC, Rosenblum is an Affiliate of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.